Teaching shortage in the news

[rollonthesummer]

I saw this in my half awake fog this morning

bbc

and thought-'ooh, are people actually accepting there's a massive recruitment/retention problem at last', as usually there's some comment like 'a spokesperson from the DFE says that there has never been a better time to enter teaching' but then I saw this was in Scotland.

I thought-from reading comments on here-that teaching was a lot better up in Scotland-less pressure to double mark etc but if Scotland are recognising there's problems, then surely it's a big issue!

Why don't they realise there's a problem, and rather than saying 'Let's give unscruplous headteachers the power to pay brilliant people more (which only in reality ends up with them paying most people badly), just stop 50% of the mindless unnecessary shite that the job entails and the fact that you are only ever one observation away from capability proceedings, and people won't be leaving in droves!

What's going to happen with it all, will it implode!?

I insist on being paid as a teachers, not cover supervisor ( secondary). The agencies try it on, but if you insist, they will pay the going rate, especially when schools ask you back by name.
It is baloney when they claim the school 'will only pay cover supervisor rates' the school pay the agency the full whack, agencies are just pressured to keep the margins as big as they can.

Or young people do it FT for a few years and then change, either to PT or to a different job altogether.
The number of NQTs that manage their first year without curriculum responsibilities, running a club and with the extra NQT time, who then crash and burn in their second or third year is also an issue.

mrsU i meant more that many schools now will not even need to go to an agency as they have a full time 10k a year cover supervisor. again, talking secondary. agencies trying it on is a blumming cheek.

Lots of sickness and stress absence at my last place. 2 cover supervisors to cover 70 teachers meant we had a lot of supply in all year round.

Yes, I often work in a school which has a FT cover supervisor, but she can only be in one place at a time, and so they usually need every day supply Oct-June.
It was not until I started supply (despite having teenagers who have been many years in school) that I realised just how many supply staff are used. One very highly regarded faith school near Wembley always has several a day.
My DC are an indie, where they don't use supply - the teachers have a reduced timetable so there are more free available specifically for cover, or SMT cover.
I occasionally get a day in one of the other local indies, but only for my own subject specialism- in state school I cover everything.

We have three cover supervisors in my school and they are always in use. I work a 22 lesson week and do two extra lessons in the unit with our naughties because I want to. This weekend I marked every day and planned. As a result I am stuck on the sofa today on a rest day (I have crohns) or my doctor was going to sign me off. I am so run down. We are told to the day when our books have to be marked and stickered and people are struggling (Nqt was in tears last week)
I love my job but the balance is shocking. I am just glad we have two weeks off at half term- even though I have a dreaded observation the last day of term!

no offence to cover supervisors but that is work taken away from teachers and which used to have to be done by a professional teacher. it again limits options for those looking for an alternative to the full on responsibility of a permanent classroom teacher job and encourages those who leave to leave for good.

doing supply for a while helps some teachers get over a bad experience in one post, regain confidence, find the right school match for them and keep up to date with tech changes etc (going by what people have told me about their reasons for doing supply or past supply experiences).

cover supervisor posts were controversial when they came in (requiring a change in standards and practice conventions) now are seen as the norm. it does make you wonder what's next and will quickly be accepted in de-professionalising (and cheapening) the sector.

can i ask your reasoning for doing and whether you prefer supply MrsU? it's something i'd possibly consider doing for a couple of months if i need to supplement income from my freelancing.

There are advantages and disadvantages to cover supervisors and supply.

Cover staff are often well known by the pupils, performance managed by the school, and therefore sometimes behaviour management, productivity etc can be increased under them than a supply teacher.

However, as you pointed out, supply teachers often come with specialist knowledge and years of experience. If you get a good one.

There are some shockers. I've seen supply teachers come in and sit reading a newspaper / kindle whilst babysitting a class. They don't interact, they don't encourage the class, they don't care.

But I have seen some amazing supply as well. But they get harder to get by name, as quite rightly they are wanted first.

We have three cover supervisors and use supply now maybe once a fortnight? Unless there is long term specialist absence. But most is covered in house.

I don't know what the answer is. Teaching is shattering work. The good days can be amazing. But God, the scrutiny, the paperwork, the sheer pressure. I'm not sure how long I would be full time for.

Cover staff are often well known by the pupils, performance managed by the school, and therefore sometimes behaviour management, productivity etc can be increased under them than a supply teacher.

But all that 'well known by the children' stuff is blown out of the water when schools use supply cover supervisors! Or agencies send in qualified supply teachers and only pay then on CS rates.

good points rollon - also that doesn't dictate that the role should have been given to unqualified teachers at 10k a year. it could have been a post for qualified teachers at a reduced rate to reflect the diminished responsibilities of the post or it could have been covered by reducing ALL teachers contact time so more was available for supply and for example prioritising interdepartmental cover so continuity and subject specialism was utilised. not disagreeing that in house cover has advantages but who said it had to be from unqualified 'cheap' individuals?

Rollon I didn't even know supply cover supervisors existed! Totally agree with that being pointless - if you go for external supply, it's because you want a qualified specialist teacher surely? So agree with you there.

I think there is a place for both in teaching, cover supervisors and supply, but it seems to vary greatly across the country as to whether schools get the balance right.

Retention is also impacted by the pay cuts that teacher are currently experiencing. When the cost of living is increasing and your pay is being reduced as workload increases, why would you stay, when you could earn similar income by working in other less stressful industries.

Most experienced teachers I know are always looking for different job options.

I agree. I'm just waiting till my children are a little bigger so holiday care isn't an issue then I am off. It's not worth my health.

That'll be another experienced teacher with a good degree who has a proven track record off the teaching books but they can probably nearly get two NQTs with my wages.

TheHoneyBadger
I retrained as a secondary teacher two years ago after a business career (so look more like an experienced teacher than an NQT which helps.)
My PGCE uni was complete rubbish, and put me off teaching, and I had seen NQTs jump into the first role they could find without knowing what the school was really like, so decided instead of doing an NQT job I would do supply to get to know lots of schools 'under the bonnet'
Also, as DC are doing GCSEs ands A levels this year did not want my stress levels to upstage theirs
Maybe because I come from a business background I find it easy to out-blink the agencies and have managed to talk them up in pay, and turn down some of their shitty offerings - eg cover supervisor rate/ half days etc.
Like a previous poster, I enjoy the delivery and behaviour management - put 100% in to the lessons, like the challenge of turning up like the SAS to unfamiliar territory, achieving the objectives and getting out (at 3.15). No desire to do the paperwork and politics and jump through artificial hoops imposed by SMT.
I go back a lot to the same schools so the kids get to know, me and behaviour is always better on subsequent visits. Yesterday I was in a school I wen tot a lot last year, saw a class that was notorious in Y8 and are now in Y9. They remembered me, were pleased to see me, as I know their names, they didn't try anything on. New Deputy Head I haven't seen before popped in and was surprised to see they were on task and the room was calm - got a call from the agency later to say the school had called them on her instructions to say how delighted she was. Given that there are heroic teachers doing far more than this on a daily basis, I doubt they are always getting that sort of recognition by SMT who will either take it for granted, or not want to raise any expectations of pay or promotions progress...
Today I had an offer of day in a lovely girls' faith school, but have decided to the day off to plant bulbs - couldn't have done that as an NQT...

I love teaching but once my daughter is at uni, I will seriously consider my options.

The hours and holidays were great when my children were younger. Now cant even afford a camping holiday during the summer due to the massive increases in prices.

My husband gets nearly 7 weeks a year holiday, get pays £20K a year more than me, his hours are probably half of mine. We have similar qualifications, why would I want to stay in teaching?

how long do you have to do your NQT year MrsU? i think it used to have to be completed within three years or you lost your QTS and had to start again before but don't know if they've changed that.

can totally understand your reasoning. we're living overseas at the minute and when the time comes to need to earn more money (getting by on freelancing for the last year or so but it's starting to dry up) the options i can see at the minute are 1) taking a permanent job for a year or two here in an international school and saving big chunks or 2) mixing things up so i do a couple of months a year in UK on supply and save all i can.

i think the 'shield of steel' or SAS style as you put it required would be far more achievable when you know that once that bell goes you're out of there with no paperwork to do and that if it truly was hellish you can choose never to go back to that school again and, as you say, being able to choose when you need a few days off.

There is no limit now on when you have to do the NQT year (in England)- the QTS lasts forever. However, if you want to teach in a maintained school - ie LA - you can only do 5 years of daily supply then you have to stop.
I have yet to work in maintained school tho' - all the schools round here are academies or free schools, and so I think that is just theoretical thing now - but in any case, I have 4 more years, and anything could happen in the next 4 years. I will just keep doing daily supply until it dries up (or I do ).
Even if a labour Gvt were elected next time round, can't see them being able to bring schools back into LA control all at once, and in any case teacher shortage might encourage them to be pragmatic about staffing - since no-one really cares about supply teachers anyway - I wouldn't be surprised if none of our politicians even know there is such a thing..

Every time... I hear a lot that teachers could be better paid elsewhere, but doing what? There's often threads on here from teachers wanting to leave but when the CV is mainly teaching and you're too old for graduate recruitment isn't it more s case of could have earned more on a different path rather than easily leaping into something else?!

it really depends on the person - reality is teaching or otherwise some people are better at seeing, developing and selling transferable skills. if the mindset is ' all i've done is teaching' then obviously the creativity and confidence required to sell yourself to and thrive in another field is going to be lacking.

a lot of teachers are more institutionalised than they realise.

Could earn significantly more as a manager in Lidl. Don't think I am underqualified or too old for that.

I prefer teaching though.

Honey - I don't doubt the institutionalised thing at all. There just are threads so often from teachers wondering what to do and jobs such as OT/psychologist/etc all get suggested and require further training and bottom of the pay scales. Finance/banking sector is out as not relevant experience.

Usually TA jobs/childcare/tutoring gets suggested.... or other "mum" jobs. I lurk on those threads often!

there is no generic answer - it's about a person looking at their knowledge, their skills and their personality etc. tons of skills can be transferred and sold whatever direction you want to go in but knowing what direction you want to go in is down to the person. a part of this is the institutionalised idea that you are qualified or not for a job and everything is about which piece of paper you have or that jobs and ways of earning a living = professions.

what interests you? what was your first degree? do you still like teaching but would prefer to use that skill set in training in a different sphere? are you good with people, experienced in IT, what are your hobbies, what lifelong learning have you stayed engaged with, etc etc etc. i don't actually think it's about being qualified but getting one's head out of a box it's been shoved in for a while.

They're being covered by day to day supply, retired managent who have been begged to temporarily return and an NQT who failed their NQT year but is resitting it.

Sorry, I'm late to this thread and way behind - but the NQT situation that you describe here shouldn't be possible, roll. Since 2013 there has been a 'one-shot' system in place. You cannot retake induction if you have failed once before.